


SoulxMaka and Other Fandom Commentary (Mostly Soul Eater)

by chaoticlivi



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Commentary, Essays, F/M, Meta, Opinion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-19 14:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 15,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17003802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticlivi/pseuds/chaoticlivi
Summary: I am archiving a lot of the random thinkpieces I've written over the years about Soul Eater to AO3. In here you'll find thoughts and ideas I've had that I didn't want to lose, most of them about Soul and Maka, but some about other topics as well. The chapter titles describe the main topic of each little rant/essay. Each chapter is self-contained. Warning: Foul language.





	1. The Pervasive Character Themes in Soul Eater

**Author's Note:**

> Please see a full transcription of the Venn diagram text below the image.

 

**“Outer Circle,” encompassing all the other circles: Identity. Crona.**  Crona’s struggle eventually culminates in their uncertainty about their own identity. The one Medusa “gave” them brings only pain, but upon rejecting it, they feel they have no identity at all, and this is what causes them to lose their sense of reality and connection. Given this feeling of existential emptiness, they take on the “role” they were “raised for,” that of a destroyer. What helps them find some peace is their decision to adopt a new identity entirely. Instead of being the destroyer that Medusa would have ordered, they become a guardian for Maka.

Crona is an extreme case, but in all of the main partnerships there are also identity struggles. Kid is not always confident in his ability to essentially “be his father.” Black Star fights against the concern that he might be defined by his family’s past - that maybe all he’ll ever be is a Star Clan demon. Soul, a close foil to Crona, spends most of the series afraid of showing the world who he really is and comparing himself to another person. He even literally rejects the Evans identity for a while. Tsubaki must discover that she is not merely a “scentless flower” after all. Liz and Patti are leaving their old identity as the Brooklyn Devils and a life of crime behind. Maka starts the series comparing herself to who her mother is, and comparing her partnership to her parents’ marriage.

 **Green Circle: Faith in connections. Maka.**  Maka’s journey begins with her parents’ broken connection and a lot of insecurity. Over the course of her story, Maka must learn to put faith in her connections again. This is a matter not only of believing that other people will come through for her, but that Maka herself is irreplaceable. Faith in a connection requires faith in oneself and in the other party. Much of this takes place in the relationship between Maka and Soul, their faith in each other helping them grow together. At the story‘s climax, Maka’s connections to everyone lead the way in battle and her connection to Crona gives Crona the courage to resist madness and imprison Asura.  _See also: Stein’s character development between being a teacher and a partner, Soul’s courage to reveal his true self._

 **Blue Circle: Blazing a better trail. Black Star.**  Black Star’s development has him facing the atrocities committed by his family and even hungering for the same power. Mifune warns him that he’s on the road to becoming a demon. But in the end, Black Star does not fall as his father and the rest of the Star Clan did; he pledges his sword to carry the dreams of fallen warriors, preventing him from becoming a monster. Black Star is, in every way, better than his parents. He accomplishes this by succeeding where they failed, not by shying away from their crimes.  _See also: Tsubaki overcoming her evil older brother. Crona becoming a defender instead of a kishin._

 **Yellow Circle: Balance. Death The Kid.**  Kid has been taught from a young age that the ultimate, most important role of a shinigami is to create balance. Life and Death, Order and Madness - these are the realms of a Death God. So he develops an obsession with symmetry, a desire to eliminate disorder. Eventually, Kid learns it isn’t really that simple. His role is in fact to balance his own power in a world that is meant to be imperfect. Yes, he is a god, but if Kid tries to exert his full power, the Madness of Order, to force any kind of balance or “symmetry,” the ideal itself will lose all meaning and there will be nothing left to balance. Everything in moderation - including moderation.  _See also: Stein’s reveal on why he simply can’t be on the “side” of madness._

 **Intersection between Green and Blue/Black Star and Maka/Blazing a better trail and Faith in connections:**  Black Star secures himself against falling into madness by making his connections to others (his promise to fallen warriors, protecting his friends) one important source of his strength. Meanwhile, Maka’s stated goal is to surpass her parents with Soul.

 **Intersection between Blue and Yellow/Black Star and Kid/Blazing a better trail and Balance:**  Kid’s role is characterized as a growth from his father’s era. He bridges the gap that has left the witches persecuted for centuries, a far more democratic policy. For his part, Black Star finds himself balancing precariously on the path of the warrior - he must balance his goals with his connections carefully to avoid falling to the path of the demon.

 **Intersection between Yellow and Green/Kid and Maka/Balance and Faith in connections:**  Kid’s faith in the witches is ultimately a critical part of saving the world and creating a more united future for his leadership. Maka and Soul spend a lot of time learning how to balance each other’s strengths, and also must balance a positive self image with reliance on others.

 **Diagram center, intersection of all circles: Courage:**  Within the story (see the Clown chapters), courage is characterized as the power conferred by the impulse to “push” against madness. Every character’s story is about their own push against madness: fear or power or order.

 **Unnecessary Necessary Disclaimer:**  This diagram is not intended to take into account every important character. I chose to focus on the three main meisters (with consideration for Crona as well) because from what I can see at the beginning and end, the story seems to organize around them. They also tend to be the “faces” of the series in marketing material and official art. This is only my perception. I believe the main 3 embody these themes, which are repeated in all of the other important storylines. It doesn’t mean there aren’t other themes, or that the other stories aren’t important, or that the “mains” do it better than any other characters - the rest just struck me as less organized. Also, to any dissent, I plead “just my opinion.”

 

> **Part II: It was also requested (by JayAaerow) that I elaborate on what I meant by "Identity" as a central theme for Crona.**

 

Thanks for giving me a chance to address this! Actually, I think I fucked up a bit on that part - I didn’t explain anything very well, just sort of rattled off examples. Including that circle was something that occurred to me later on when I realized the diagram seemed incomplete without them, not from the beginning, so that might have something to do with it.

I believe Crona’s “identity struggle” is on a far more basic level than most of us are accustomed to thinking about (unless the reader has been through it themselves). It’s not about “what’s my name, what do I like, where did I come from,” etc, and it’s not even about “what’s my gender?” because clearly, Crona isn’t interested in that (it’s “unknown” to the readers and Ohkubo; they COULD have one, but they certainly never talk about it, nor do they really respond when Black*Star mentions it). Gender is, after all, only a part of one’s identity. It’s important, but there are even more fundamental things.

Instead, Crona’s identity struggle (especially after finally killing Medusa) is “What is my role relative to others? Where do I fit in relative to others?  _Am I even a person?_ ” Again, these are things most people tend to take for granted.

Arguably, I could choose a different word from “identity.” I could have used something like “role” or “moral alignment.” But “identity” seemed accurate enough for Crona, and it also resonated more...... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) with the interplay of themes between the other characters. In other words, while Crona embodies the rest of the themes, too, I felt “identity” was the one that Crona did more dramatically than anyone else.

Here are some examples of Crona saying things that I personally took to mean they were struggling with who/what they are or what their place is. Sorry they’re a little shoddy, but they should be readable, and I’d probably chop off my fingers before I bent the spine of one of my manga volumes.

This happens when Maka finds Crona again in Italy. They literally claim to not know who they are, or what relationship they have to Maka, or why they’re here. Now clearly, they actually  _do_  have at least a vague idea of who Maka is, so you can’t take all this too literally, but the implication is that they feel some...existential confusion.

This is what Crona says after they tell Maka that they killed Medusa. Medusa was their “order” - Medusa was the rules they followed, the one connection they considered the most important. And they killed her, which they take to mean that  _there is no place for them in this world_. Perhaps the better way for me to put it is not “Crona has no identity,” but that they feel a “break” with their former identity as Medusa’s child/minion, so they choose a new one - as a destroyer of order.

Enjoy my finger. Anyway, this is Crona stating that this is their choice. Avoiding order is their  _chosen role_.

This is much, much later, but here we have Crona talking about Medusa on the moon. It’s a reiteration of the fact that yes, they did consider Medusa their “order,” and it gives credence to the idea that Medusa’s death involved an identity shift for Crona.

Later on, they take on a completely opposite role for Maka - instead of devouring the world with madness, they make the opposite choice: to become a guardian and imprison the madness.

As far as parenthood being a theme, yeah, that’s absolutely the case. But I think Soul Eater takes a rather [psychoanalytical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis) approach by implying that one’s childhood parenting is an establisher of identity (see above). I also think that one’s parenting rolls in as a sub-category somewhere between “faith in connections” and “blazing a better trail,” which is why I didn’t include parenting as its own category. Note that Medusa is the only parental figure whose role is almost, in a sense, “replaced.” The main three meisters all vow to improve on their parents, an implicit acceptance of their parents as part of themselves, no matter how screwed up they were (looking at you, White*Star). Only Crona really replaces Medusa - with Maka. Naturally, this isn’t  _fully_  possible - Medusa is always going to be Crona’s mother, and Maka is not - but Maka does give Crona the safe space and basic connection to humanity that a parent is theoretically supposed to give. [Here is my tired old school essay on the subject.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/11OfA4B5KOKGCVALmmeVAYKPso4oIpZCH9PP-PRqqCh8/edit) Please note that I wrote it a couple years ago and it’s a bit outdated. But the point is, basically, that I think parenting is tied to identity, at least within real-world psychoanalytical approaches and in the world of Soul Eater. Identity seemed like a broader category, which is why I chose it above parenting.

The same goes for acceptance (an acceptance of  _self_  would be an identity issue, and acceptance  _of_  or  _from_  others would be related to one’s connections).

Regarding morality, Soul Eater pretty specifically ties moral judgments in with the concept of “balance.” Order is what creates moral judgments and generates a society’s code of conduct; for example, many people think of Stein as fundamentally mad, and wonder why a person on the side of Madness would choose to side with Order instead. To simplify the complicated explanation that took place on the moon, Stein realizes/reveals it’s because the existence of Order fuels the existence of Madness; even his madness  _needs_  Order.

Also, though Soul Eater places a high premium on the importance of human connections, it doesn’t actually take a strong stance on morality in particular. It even can be a little avoidant of morality by characterizing the two alignments as “Order” and “Madness” instead of “good and evil.” Most of the “moral concepts” it advocates, like loyalty, understanding, and acceptance, are based on making and maintaining connections, because people who don’t have any connections to others  ** _never_**  succeed. So I’m sure you could explore that intensively, but for the sake of character themes, it felt more consistent to keep the morality under faith in connections, balance, etc. Morality is important, but it seems like a slightly separate issue from the series’ themes, and by trying to include it in this chart, I’d be trying to do too much at once.

I added this in the tags of the post, too, since I thought of it after making the post: Identity is the outer circle because it encompasses everything else, and also because it’s one of the first issues the characters have to face before they can get to anything else. Not that growth doesn’t happen in multiple areas at once, but it’s hard to have a sense of balance if you don’t know where you stand, or have faith in connections if you don’t know who your partner is connecting to, or blaze a better trail if you don’t know where you’re going (and where you’re coming from).

So, TL;DR, I definitely did see some identity confusion in Crona, and felt that it was strong enough, unique enough, and relevant to enough characters to be its own overarching theme. However, as mentioned before, the diagram is of course through my view only, and is, as you know, subject to my own human error. I assumed that not everyone would agree with everything, so I hope it just did its job in provoking thought!

As a last note, I did strongly consider just wrapping Crona’s whole storyline into “faith in connections”. And I still think that might have been reasonable. But I got the feeling that there was just a little something unique, some additional concept that needed elaboration.

 

 


	2. SoulxMaka Shipping Dissertation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reasons why I read Soul and Maka as a romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these ideas came from "someone" making a tumblr post in the Soul Eater tag - it was an analysis-heavy post that took place before the manga even ended. It was a long time ago, and I couldn't remember who it was. However, after digesting and rehashing the fandom experience with her, I'm pretty sure it was Professor Maka who inspired these thoughts! She made a post with a lot of excellent points and many of my ideas here are just elaborations or add-ons to things she was already saying.

I wrote this LONG-ASS highly biased META SHIT about Soul and Maka and man I just - it just feels like a waste not to post it. Even though I'm only pseudo-confident in it? Anyway, here it is. Just because it's long doesn't mean it's intelligent - it's probably stuff you know already - so definitely feel free to skip it. Fab, for example, has already heard me blab about this countless times.

I've forgotten to mention this, but another "meta reason" I think Soul and Maka's relationship makes the most sense as an eventual romance is because of the pattern it would follow with the overall themes of the series.

So the series is mostly organized by the adventures of the three main meisters: Maka, Black Star, and Kid. Not that there aren't a bunch of significant others - the weapons, the B Team, the professors, and so on - but I'd say the culmination of the series ends up revolving around the 3 main meisters' storylines, and most of the side-stories somehow play into these 3 stories, too, either directly or by having similar themes.

If you'll notice, each of these 3 characters has parental figures who may or may not be well-intended, but who definitely made some mistakes and/or morally dubious life choices. Other parental figures are largely absent.  _There are no parents-by-blood in the story who have not made some kind of mistake_. (One can argue about Tsubaki's parents, but their presence is extremely brief.)

Black Star's parents were TOTAL assholes, allowing their mad thirst for power to overshadow their better angels until they murdered indiscriminately to gain what they wanted.

Kid's father is - well, he's not  _evil_ , but look at some of the choices he's made. Among other things, he's a master manipulator, and it has resulted in this twisted world where children hunt witches in a sort of genocidal way, who are revealed to be not as pure-evil as the DWMA has wanted everyone to believe. Additionally, he created Asura in this weird misguided attempt to separate out his fear and rule alongside it. Big mistake. Also an unethical experiment.

And Maka's father. Oh, Spirit. The man is arguably the least-bad of the trio's parents. After all, he's not sadistic or cruel and he hasn't done anything to intentionally hurt his progeny; in fact, he genuinely loves her and humanity in general. I think he's fundamentally a good man. But the fact is, he did fuck up pretty badly with Maka's mother. He has no self-control and betrayed her (and their daughter's) trust as regards romance specifically.

So, okay. All of these parental problems are revealed throughout the series. And I would argue that the 3 meisters' storylines are based on facing up to these problems - and then fixing the mistakes that were made in the past, according to one of the character's own central themes.

But notice: none of the problems of the past are dealt with by trying to circumvent them or find a way around them. No, they're dealt with by facing them head-on and simply being  _better_  than the previous generation. The faults in earlier plans are also generally remedied using  _social connections_.

Black Star doesn't stop pursuing power. He doesn't decide it isn't wise to try to overcome gods. Instead, he embraces it and makes it about other people; he's going to carry the dreams of fallen warriors on his shoulders, he's going to use his strength to help build a new world where kishin will fear to tread. (But he's still gonna be the strongest, showiest guy doing it.) He replaces his parents' mad quest for power with something more beneficent.

Kid doesn't decide it's too risky to become a fully-grown Shinigami. He doesn't discover that his father's powers come from madness, realize all the mistakes his father has made, and decide that having a God of Death is wrong and he shouldn't grow. Instead, he uses his newfound abilities to show diplomacy to the witches and confer the power to make decisions to humans, who he believes will make the right choices. He replaces his father's Machiavellian techniques with more honest, democratic ones.

And Maka doesn't abandon her connections, including her relationship with Soul. When she realizes that she'll always be afraid of losing him - fear is always, always there, whether it's "reasonable" or not - she doesn't decide it isn't worth maintaining that connection and others.

It's worth noting the interaction between Maka, Spirit, and Soul on the moon (I remember that someone else made a post about this a very long time ago, before the series ended, but sadly I can't find it in my archive at the moment. So just know this isn't my original thought entirely!).

Maka and Soul temporarily lose their resonance because Crona disables soul resonance, and Maka uses her father as her weapon because she's able to (a parent and child don't need a functioning "resonance", per se, to work together, because the connection is always there). However, there comes a point where Spirit's blade is not strong enough to fight anymore, and as he turns back to human form, he reminds his daughter that it's the connections between  _different_  kinds of people that are the strongest. He tells Maka that he and his ex-wife couldn't make it, but Maka and Soul must always reconnect - succeed where Spirit and his ex failed, create a better Death Scythe than Spirit.

This is where I think there is a thematic implication of romance. How did Spirit and his ex fail? He's not a weak weapon. We have seen no evidence to suggest that Soul is a physically stronger Death Scythe. That could be the case, sure - but it's never even been mentioned. If anything, we've seen more mention of how much Soul relies on Maka for power rather than how much Spirit relies on his meisters for power.

Spirit also didn't, to our knowledge, betray his partner in a non-romantic sense. We've never, EVER heard that he abandoned her in battle, or that they didn't have the same level of aspiration and determination Soul and Maka did. The  _only_  plot-relevant fault we know of in Spirit and his ex's relationship is Spirit's romantic and sexual infidelity.

You could say the mistake that Spirit and his ex made was getting into a romantic relationship in the first place, that it obviously led to a teen pregnancy and neither parent was ready for such a thing, that there would have been no failure at all if Spirit hadn't gotten his ex pregnant in the first place, so obviously their romantic attraction was to blame. But this was not  _presented_  as a mistake, ultimately, in the series. After giving Maka his ex-wife's ring and before going up to the Moon, Spirit refers to being incredibly happy that Maka came out as, well, Maka. Also, she is basically the savior of the world. So once again, it wasn't the romance or the sex that was presented as the overall Bad Thing - it was the infidelity.

So I would argue that in matching with the major plots and themes of the series, it would make sense for Soul and Maka's relationship to  _eventually_  become romantic, and for it to  _succeed_. Avoidance wouldn't work. It doesn't work elsewhere in the series. They'd repair the idea of love. Of course, we didn't see any "on-screen" snogging, and they have already fulfilled the fairly basic requirement of "not falling apart," unlike Spirit and his ex. But I do think it makes the most sense to think they eventually went further and became the "new-world" symbol of a good partnership (romance included).

That's just me.

"But wait. You seem to have this pretty conveniently organized in your own shipper mind, but if it's so necessary then why isn't it actually canon?"

Well, I'm not a mind-reader. This whole thing could be straight-up wrong. But there are a lot of complicated reasons why it might have been a bad idea to actually have it canon, even if it makes a ton of sense as an  _eventual_  outcome.

  * Canon pairings step on people's toes. Fiction isn't just about a bunch of meta-messages, it's entertainment and people create their own meanings for it. So it would make sense to leave very controversial things like this open to interpretation.
  * Romance is one of those story elements in which you can literally never make everyone happy, or even most people. People who don't like the pairing will of course be upset, and from some of his comments and tweets it would appear that Ohkubo feels some level of affection for his fanbase, so I don't think he'd want to alienate anyone; but even people who like the pairing might also be particular about the "when, where, why, and how" of the getting-together.
  * Some people just don't LIKE writing romance. Like they're not going to pretend it doesn't exist but they're not gonna indulge it either.
  * The characters are  _really young_  (and have just been through a lot). It might be more believable to drop hints but not try to mash their faces together immediately at the end. The point of the series is, when everything is said and done, to  _look toward the future_.
  * It makes the most sense in the future, but it's not strictly necessary for the plot we're privy to. To  _imply_  a romance for 1/3 of the main meisters is fine, but friendship, "found family," and other types of close relationships are supposed to be the primary important part of the series, so if we have a big romance scene for that one meister it could kind of subvert the other important relationships.



Look, Ohkubo's done a lot of silly things and made a lot of questionable choices (mostly, in my opinion, regarding "when is an appropriate time for naked ladies"). But in terms of tying the series' central themes together neatly, staying consistent throughout, and building a world that feels fleshed-out while still being fun to play in for the fandom, he's done a great job. It might sound complicated, but I have absolutely no doubt that he's able to do something complex like this if he wants to. I think there are a lot of little micro-moments that are very random and impulsive for the sake of fun, but if you look at recurring messages and themes and overarching plots, what you'll find is something quite coherent.


	3. Opinion: Soul and Maka and Flexibility

i feel like a reason soul and maka are fun for me to ship because, in the future, they could be either “soft and easy” or angsty and dramatic, and either way is believable. like it’s not that there’s no such thing as OOC, of course whichever route you take is going to have a better or worse execution, but they are versatile.

they both learn and mature a lot and grow very close over the course of the story, and the end leaves both their characters on a clear upward growth trajectory. so it is emotionally believable that whatever “struggles” their relationship involves might not be as difficult as they were in the past, and that as graduation from DWMA approaches, they could fall into place as “life partners” with little angst (instead letting the ever-unstable fate of the world become the only relevant drama in their lives once they reach adulthood).

on the other hand, we DO know that they both still have personal issues. soul is still private and reserved enough to be confusing; maka is still insecure enough to be jealous. the world is also changing rapidly and adulthood is coming down the tracks like a steam engine, two factors that always complicate things. and we know that an “ongoing struggle” is a relevant piece of the theme of canon. for that reason, if you want them to be a dramatic and complicated pairing, you can make that work, too.

of course, i am a big fan of taking a balanced middle road. most human relationships involve  _some_  level of conflict, but i don’t advocate people staying in relationships that are super angsty and difficult all the time. it’s most emotionally resonant with me to think of them facing a series of relationship challenges but getting through each one successfully - like in the manga storyline.


	4. SteinMarie Thwarts Cynicism

SteinMarie has an important but also unique role in canon which keeps the series from seeming excessively...well, for lack of a better term, ageist, where “ageism” here is the assumption that older people cannot learn or grow or change.

The whole series is about the newer generation improving on the ways of its progenitors. And it’s a very good, hopeful stance to take, generally true to life, we all continually hope. But media of that nature can easily fall into a pattern of viewing the previous generation as hopeless, inflexible, unchangeable. Like once you’re an established adult, you’ve stopped growing, you assimilate into some Problematic Borg entity, and become the enemy. This is bad not only because it’s untrue and leads to the bad treatment of other human beings, but because it creates this grim, hopeless self-fulfilling cycle in which people become cynics about each other and  _themselves_.

Stein and Marie highlight through their relationship how untrue that is better than any other characters in the series. Yeah, it will be the main kids’ jobs to take over and make change, but the previous generation is also there, helping and evolving with the times.

It’s important to know that growth and progress don’t  _end_  after you come of age. And Stein and Marie’s relationship is the plot string that brings this nuance out. There are many intertwined themes and stories but no other characters who you can really say send that message in particular. However, it is related enough to the main messages and emphasized enough in the last few chapters that it’s definitely a relevant point and not just random flavoring in the story.

As a side note, Marie and Stein are not “old” at the series’ end. They’re about  _my_  age. But the story frames them very clearly as members of the previous generation, Lord Death’s prized employees and the schoolmates of the main casts’ parents. So despite not being  _elderly_ , they are  _elders_  and make the point about continued growth.


	5. Maka as a Corrective Attachment for Crona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is actually an essay I wrote for a Master's class. Please kindly note that it was written in 2013 and required me to use certain concepts. While I believe the core idea of it still holds water, I might not detail everything exactly the same way today, five years later.

        Soul Eater is a fantasy/action/horror/comedy manga series by Atsushi Ohkubo. Its main themes are insanity, courage, and human bonding. Of specific interest is an adolescent character of unknown gender identity named Crona. Crona was severely abused, physically and psychologically, as a child. Their mother, Medusa, forced them to kill their own pets in an effort to train them to be cruel. As cruel as Medusa was, she was a primary caregiver who would reward Crona for "good behavior" and with whom Crona bonded. Despite their initial resistance, Crona eventually grows up being forced to commit violence not only against animals, but also people. Eventually Crona meets a young adolescent girl named Maka. At first Maka tries to stop Crona in combat. This is impossible; she decides to try to understand Crona's mind. When Maka discovers Crona's inner turmoil and mental state, she views Crona as an innocent victim and offers friendship. At first Crona is dysregulated and terrified, but soon breaks down in tears and accepts. For a time - probably several months - Crona lives in Maka's hometown and slowly develops friendships despite intense anxiety. However, Medusa reappears and commands Crona to betray their new friends, which Crona does before disappearing with Medusa. Maka searches tirelessly for Crona, but cannot find them.

Crona's next appearance, months later, indicates a radical change. They willingly commit murders and claim to not remember Maka (although fleeting memories indicate they have not entirely forgotten). After Crona commits an especially brutal act of violence, Medusa offers motherly affection to Crona with the intention of upsetting them, saying she loves them and is proud of them. As Medusa predicted, Crona has an outburst. They declare that this can't really be their mother - Medusa would never show this affection (and Crona adds, "I don't know how to deal with [affection]"). Also, Medusa has forced them to throw away Maka, the only person who ever accepted Crona. Crona kills Medusa (who states that her "experiment is complete" before dying), then returns to the place where they first met Maka. Maka finally finds Crona and tries to talk them down, but Crona does not listen and instead vows to meld with insanity itself to devour the world in madness. It is interesting to note that before leaving Maka, Crona says they have destroyed their most important connection, Medusa, and that they have no role in the world but to destroy ("a person like me is only good for dying the world black"). Crona says that they only appeared to Maka to explain the above to her. Interestingly, to keep Maka from following, Crona adds, "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore."

Maka, who is simultaneously trying to help contain the forces of insanity, pursues Crona, trying to convince them that they are "not alone" and have a place in the world, and to accept help from their old friends instead of destroying everything, but Crona does not listen. Crona is not strong enough to consume the madness, and is only consumed themselves. While wandering in a black void, Crona muses that they would be better off dead but have no desire to commit suicide simply because they want to see Maka one more time. Crona is overjoyed when Maka makes her way into the madness and finds them again. Crona tells her they have no care for the fate of the world or for other people. However, Maka's determination to redeem them has given them courage and they wish to help Maka. Thus they will not return to a normative life, but they will help Maka seal away the greater source of madness. At the end Maka has returned to daily life and Crona is still at the madness source; it is unknown whether Crona has died or is still alive, consciously maintaining the seal.

The relevant reading, Granvold's _Cognitive and Constructive Psychotherapies_ , outlines a number of theoretical approaches adopted by cognitive psychotherapies which might also offer explanations for Crona's erratic behavior and the reasons why they finally came to the "heroes' side." The first example is Systems Theory - which describes human beings as complex, constantly-changing living systems designed to seek purpose, internal stability, and continuity. Systems Theory would frame Crona as attempting to find balance between a consistent sense of self and the changes being made due to numerous personal, environmental, and biological factors. A key to Systems Theory is that major changes are viewed as threatening, and the system - Crona in this case - would resist change. This can be seen when they first met Maka and suffered severe dysregulation due to her intervention. The next example is Attachment Theory, which suggests that early bonds determine the schemas individuals develop about themselves and their roles and places in the world. In other words, individuals develop their identities through attachments. It is abundantly clear that Medusa set up her attachment to Crona in a way that caused Crona to view their role as that of a destroyer and non-human. Also related to this role is Cognitive Theory, which posits that human existence is mainly about the making of a meaning for life. As a whole, the reading concludes, among other things, that changes in schemas are essential for changing an individual's outlook and behavior.

Over time, it is Maka's stubborn attachment to, and belief in, Crona that enabled Crona to change their schemas and self-image. By absolutely no means does Maka condone any of Crona's actions, but she consistently holds Crona to a higher standard while never abandoning them or giving up on their ability to change. Maka is also able to get other people to follow her example and encourage Crona's schema change as well. This is a prime example of a corrective attachment. Medusa raised Crona to be a certain way. That "certain way" - as a force of pure destruction far outside the bounds of human society - was stable and ingrained and appeared adaptive, so Crona's system strongly resisted change. Maka, however, came along and used her outlook and consistent presence to first create a "holding space" for Crona where Crona felt safer than they ever had with Medusa. Then by refusing to leave, by always "being there" even when Crona's behavior should have pushed her away, Maka fostered a corrective attachment by which Crona was able to change their schemas. Maka ultimately could not undo the long-term damage inflicted by Medusa's parenting, but she did successfully mitigate some of it and change Crona's view of themselves from a destroyer to someone who could serve. Crona realized they were uniquely equipped to help Maka, and in that way became a guardian.

Aside from the theory involved, this story's connections to reality are tenuous. However, it is a reminder of the importance of perseverance. Many clients are used to everyone, families and therapists alike, giving up on them. Simply being present for clients can form the basis for a very powerful alliance and a very powerful intervention.


	6. Soul Eater is a Series About Legacies

**Black*Star:**  Must choose his own path in defiance of the legacy of destruction wrought by his ancestors.

 **DTK:**  The successor to his father’s legacy; charged with literally becoming the New World Order.

 **Tsubaki:**  Must overcome, and bring an end to, her evil brother’s legacy of destruction - and assimilate her family’s legacy of weapon greatness.

 **Liz and Patty:**  Must escape their mother’s legacy of crime, self-destruction, and abandonment.

 **Crona:**  Assigned a pre-made legacy - Asura’s - by their mother, which they must turn around.

 **Maka:**  Meets her parents’ Death Scythe legacy head-on, striving to improve on it.

 **Soul:**  Flees from his family’s musical legacy, only to realize he must accept it to accept himself.


	7. Opinion: A Rant About Soul Criticism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please note, this rant was written quite a while ago, and things have seemed to become more calm and positive since then. Although I still like the core ideas in this writing, I'm no longer so angry.

I realize everyone is entitled to their precious opinions, and I don’t expect this to change anything - but at the same time, I’m sick of seeing this crap floating around and I get to air my grievances, too.

Soul is a character who’s grown so much and risked so much and shown such intense loyalty and changed so much and people reduce him to a couple of stupid comments he made out of emotional confusion when he was  _even younger_  than he is at the end of the series.

Soul gave everything he physically, psychologically, emotionally could to Maka, devoted himself to her vision for the world, stood by her whether she was breaking the rules or being targeted. And though he’d crank about the little chores sometimes, he clearly fell into his role with her naturally and was glad to do it. And then people decide he has some kind of misogynistic problem with her because of a couple of those same stupid, fleeting comments.

I’ve also seen people mention the Black Blood a couple of times. They seem to hold Soul responsible for what he did under the influence of the Black Blood, when it’s literally a foreign substance that will give you superpowers while it exploits your insecurities to hijack your mind. People who are overtaken by Black Blood are not themselves. It’s not just another substance that lowers your inhibitions - it changes you. People have fallen irretrievably to far less intimate madness, and meanwhile, Soul pulled himself out of the Black Blood through the power of his own insight. I could write an entire post about this, but I think it’s satisfactory to say for now that it’s ridiculously unfair to suggest that little episode shows some kind of innate malice.

Generally, when people are making snide comments about Soul’s fans, they like to imply that our investment is somehow silly or shallow, that we’re just sitting here fetishizing white hair and pianos. That’s wrong. Soul is a character who represents, among other things, the human ability to climb out of doubt, and who emphasizes the importance of connections to others (pretty literally, by the end of the series, with the spider web powers).

He’s also kind of scary on the outside - unnatural appearance, appetite for human souls, surly demeanor - but actually demonstrates intense loyalty, concern, and the strong desire to be ‘good.’ Given that the universe can be a cold and frightening place sometimes, does it not make sense that people would want to latch onto a character with those qualities - prickly on the outside, soft on the inside? It’s nice to believe that not everything that looks scary really is.

While we’re at it, I’ve also seen the SoMa relationship described as “unhealthy” or “abusive.” Which is nonsense.

Both characters

state multiple times

that the relationship

is mutually beneficial, that they’ve helped each other grow into more mature, stronger, better people.

That’s literally the opposite of an abusive relationship.

The slapstick humor (Maka chops) and boob jokes are generally seen as the offenders, some evidence that there’s fundamentally an unforgivable flaw in the relationship. But these kinds of humor are practically omnipresent in shonen manga - they are, by definition, throwaway gags, unimportant and harmless to the characters in a way that the audience is assumed to know is not possible in reality (that’s basically the point of cartoons).

Man, it really is a depressing world when a few throwaway Bad Things can just make every good thing and every good pattern in a relationship null and fucking void.

It’s not that violent humor or boob jokes aren’t disturbing to many people for legitimate reasons. They are. And it makes sense to talk about that. But being sanctimonious and moralistic about what a bad character or bad relationship or stupid fandom it is? That’s just ridiculous.

It’s whatever. I just needed this to not be bottled up.


	8. Soul Seeking to Share Music With Maka

I wanted to talk about some angst because, I dunno, it just sort of coalesced while I was driving earlier today.

…And now it has become much longer than I intended. Oh, well.

In the Book of Eibon, during Maka’s vision, she also has a flashback wherein Soul shows her a new record by a musical artist he really likes (it is a real-world album, Bitches' Brew by Miles Davis).

I think that scene is very telling.

Usually, when someone tries to share something with you, it is  _ **NOT**_ just about the thing. It’s usually about the relationship; it’s a request for someone to share part of your world.

Whether it’s telling a story, showing you a musical record, asking you to watch a movie, or offering to share a favorite food so you can try it for the first time, the person making the offer is looking for validation, the idea that they mean enough to you to get some of your time and attention. That’s why it’s so crushing when you play a song for someone and they talk all the way through it or you point out a funny sign on the street and they just shrug at it and look away. It feels like they don’t care about your perspective. In a word, it’s dismissive of you.

(This happens occasionally in every close relationship. It hurts, but it’s normal because no one can give 100% of their attention to one person at all times. Also, if you’re thinking about your own life, I’m not trying to imply you need to LIKE all the same things as someone to validate them. They might be a little disappointed if you end up not liking the things, but it is very unlikely to undermine the relationship as long as you give it your attention and engage in a real, non-dismissive dialogue with them about it.)

Anyway, back to Soul and Maka. Soul knows Maka is not musical. He’s not showing her Miles Davis’s album because he’s looking for her opinion about it or thinks she’s going to enjoy it for what it is. He’s trying to engage her in a part of his life, to bring her in where she was previously left out.

ALSO THIS IS A REALLY BIG DEAL BECAUSE SOUL’S GREATEST FEAR IS GETTING TOO CLOSE TO PEOPLE LEST THEY JUDGE HIM, BUT HERE HE IS, FIGURATIVELY HOLDING THE DOOR OPEN AND INVITING HER IN.

But what does Maka do?

She dismisses it.

She hates jazz because she doesn’t understand it, and she wants him to keep it down while she’s studying.

Because her greatest fear, the opposite of Soul’s, is losing people.

At this point in the storyline? They admire each other, they care about each other intensely. But they absolutely suck at communicating. Maka doesn’t know that Soul is trying to be inclusive of her. She’s angry and hurt, and she thinks of music not as part of Soul but as something that’s going to take him away from her. So she rejects it.

And that must be painful as hell for someone who’s come to expect rejection.

Of course, she does not actually reject Soul as a person - it’s just a miscommunication. She feels so shitty about her inability to understand Soul’s favorite music that she pushes it away, and - because Soul and the music are inextricably linked - she also pushes him away.

The cruelest thing here is that Maka believes it’s best for Soul if she just leaves. It’s definitely true that the Book of Eibon is influencing her - I think the Sloth chapter is essentially the experience of clinical depression - but of all the conclusions she could have arrived at under such effects, it was that Soul would be better off without her, because she doesn’t understand him.

In that moment, while we all know how much it would hurt everyone else for Maka to leave, she believes she’s doing the right thing.

And the commonly self-fulfilling prophecy, pushing someone away because you’re afraid of losing them, almost comes true, except for the fact that this scenario involves two people and Soul ain’t goin’ nowhere.

Of course, Maka snaps out of it. That isn’t the end of this issue, though.

Way at the end of the manga, Soul’s gained his musical independence. He’s completely mastered the music in his soul. This terrifies Maka. Maybe he has no reason to stick around. Maybe she’ll lose him.

But she stops herself this time.

She accepts his music, accepts his independence; just sits beside him and listens.

(Granted, this is Soul’s music, which she was always professed to enjoy in contrast with random jazz artists’ albums; but I think it’s intended to be a comparable scenario, since the idea of music taking Soul away is the same.)

Obviously, Maka’s kind of scared here, but she’s not going to reject him again by blowing up or asking him to stop.

And as she allows the situation to play out completely, Soul reminds her that she is the one who enables his music in the first place.

And that means she has a place in his music even when she’s not actually there.

It’s just a really cool story about two really different people learning how to be the best versions of themselves thanks to each other okay!

screams!


	9. Themes and Ideals in the SoulxMaka Ship

I like to psychoanalyze myself into oblivion and I also  _really_  like to think about Soul and Maka and I realized that probably because of the way my personality seems to work (utter fascination with abstractions, symbolism, and ideals) I tend to like them because they represent certain ideals for me so here is a spamtacular blah about the things they represent to me. Beyond the obvious (good chemistry, super cute, etc.).

this relates mostly to the end of the manga and also uses the word “ideals” which, ironically, annoys me a lot. it’s also rambly and not always very concrete and written with all the personality of a soggy cracker because it’s now 3 AM. Seriously, I’m barely even coherent.

EDIT: I meant to add this is like 90% just “what stuff means to ME” not stuff I think is meant to be “literary”

**=Relationship Ideals=**

**Balanced Power**

Overall, neither Soul nor Maka is the more “important” member of the partnership. The manga goes to great pains to establish this, and a major part of both characters’ growth is learning it.

Sure, there are moments when one partner is more “dominant” and the other partner has no choice but to go along. And each is strong in ways that the other is weak. They’re complimentary; it would be a little emotionally unbelievable and boring if this was not the case, if they were perfectly equal in every way at all times. But in the grand scheme of things over the course of the story, there is no power differential in the relationship. Each relies on the other the same amount.

**Mutuality/Growth**

The relationship is beneficial to both at once. Neither ever grows at the other’s expense - but they always help to improve each other both as meister and weapon and as human beings. Particularly, look at how each becomes more confident in their own abilities and self-worth over the course of the storyline. In addition, their feelings are mutual. One partner is not left caring more than the other.

**Harmony**

This is a pretty common theme among characters who compliment each other, and it’s part of Soul and Maka’s story arc.

They are two very different people with very different talents and weaknesses. To simplify them, Soul is introverted, afraid to connect to people, artistic, logical, lazy. Maka is extroverted, afraid to lose connections, emotional, bullheaded, hardworking.

However, there are some core traits and values that they both have in common and helps unite them as people who can act in harmony rather than simply existing in the same space as “opposites.” Both have major issues with self-worth and self-esteem. Both are intensely loyal to their friends and their causes - which are, in fact, one and the same. Even Maka’s personal goal of creating a Death Scythe stronger than her father is directly compatible with Soul’s personal goal of gaining his own identity. And while both can lose their temper or be short-sighted, they tend to be overall forgiving and understanding of others (Maka’s dad notwithstanding).

No one can be perfect. But together, each can compensate for the other’s weaknesses  _and_  enhance their strengths.

**Devotion**

Their partnership has not always been easy, especially not when they were really young. A lot of people would have said “never mind this crap - I’m young and I’m gonna find someone who doesn’t hit me with books or make fun of my chest.” Not only did they never give up, but they came through each conflict with greater understanding than before, as reflected in their constantly-strengthening resonance, and made decisions based not only on their personal goals but on what they believed would be best for one another (which I’ll yammer on about below).

**Admiration**

This is pretty straightforward. Each greatly admires the strengths of the other. It’s a gradual development and it’s not a “putting-on-a-pedestal” situation. Rather, they know each other at their human worst and still admire each other at their human best.

**Selflessness**

As partners, they have goals. And as in every relationship, some of those goals are self-serving (Maka wants to create a Death Scythe superior to her father; Soul wants to find a purpose in life that is not defined by his family).

However, each also cares very genuinely about what is really, truly best for the other. In a moment when Maka lost all faith in her competence, her instinct was to forfeit her own goal completely because she believed Soul would be better off without her (of course, this was extremely misguided). Soul spent a long time refusing to get stronger because he worried that the Black Blood would hurt Maka. Every serious risk to the partnership comes from a disagreement about what each believes is actually best for the  _other_  partner.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m saying one must  _always_  be completely selfless in a relationship of any kind. Relationships are about balancing the needs of two people, and it’s unhealthy to expect total self-sacrifice. But I think that there does need to be caring and, sometimes, a willingness to put the other person’s needs above your own.

**Individuality**

Through all this mutuality and teamwork, they still get to be individuals with unique identities and passions. Soul has his music and Death Scythe power; Maka has her social causes (Crona and, on a larger scale, anyone who needs inspiring).

And by the end, they are not codependent. Yes, they make each other stronger, they are  _very unique and important to each other_ , and their goals and passions are 100% compatible, but they’re not dysfunctional or paralyzed if left on their own.

**=Overall Ideals=**

**Triumph Over Madness, Acceptance, Serenity**

I lump these together because they’re all so closely related. I have to admit, as someone who’s gotten caught up in my anxiety disorder before, felt paralyzed, felt incapable of escaping, hated myself…this hits pretty damn close to home.

Soul and Maka live in a world where madness is a mind-manipulating, supernatural phenomenon that works like a communicable disease. Not only that, but Soul is infected with it, which greatly affects Maka. With a combination of social support, insight, and determination, though, the two overcome it.

Also, they overcome the madness by accepting it. While Soul does lose the Black Blood at the end of the manga, that was only a part of the problem, the supernatural part that could perform literal mind and body control. According to the manga, everyone has their own kind of madness which they can never escape from - it’s part of the human condition - and they both state outright that while it’s still there in the background, they can and will continue to thrive.

**Courage**

This is a big fat “duh,” right? xD But really, it’s important to mention, because I’m such a sucker for ~courage~. Maybe it’s that I lack it. Anyway, as with the story as a whole, they have a “facing your inner demons” theme, and for me personally, that represents the greatest kind of bravery. Power-wise, they may be the weakest of the three main meister/weapon teams, if you consider that Kid is a god and Black Star is a superhuman monster, but through sheer willpower and the courage to face their fears, they reach that level anyway.

Not only do they represent courage - going along with the mutuality theme, they bring it out in each other. They’re both very courageous people, deep down, even though this whole time each has always thought of the other as more brave.

**Hope**

By its end, Soul Eater has a theme of the future generation  _directly facing_  and  _repairing_  what the previous generation broke. Crona was developed as a “future Kishin,” and indeed becomes a rather upsetting monster at first, but ends up being a guardian instead, containing the old Kishin’s madness. Black Star’s parents murdered ruthlessly and destroyed countless lives in a quest for infinite power; Black Star embarked on the same quest and is well on his way to accomplishing it without all the murder, cruelty, and mayhem. Lord Death exerted social control and contained madness by waging a violent war on witches and separating from his own fear, while Kid has ascended to power with his soul intact and the promise to repair the relationship between DWMA and cooperative witches.

And Maka’s parents? They separated because her father was not a good romantic partner. They represent the broken partnership. Maka and Soul will tread the same path, but they’ll succeed where Maka’s parents failed, because they're  _better_.

(This is not to simply dump on the previous generation - the previous generation taught everyone a lot and helped bring them up to this level. While the previous generation had its problems, it also had its strengths and made possible what is done by the end of the manga.)

**=Important Final Point=**

Basically Soul and Maka wrap up all my favorite ideals in a snarky, cute, badass package that is too funny and attractive for me to deal with like a normal human.


	10. Death the Kid and OCD/OCPD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tumblr user by the name of shi-ni-shi-ni-koroshi asked for my opinion about DTK and the possibility that he might have OCD/OCPD, so I did my best to write an insightful commentary. Please note! This is only one person's opinion. I'm also using diagnostic information that I learned years ago, and science's understanding of mental health is constantly evolving.

Compulsive disclaimer: it’s been a long time since I learned this stuff. I’m guiding you through my thought process, that’s all. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. But this is pretty fun, so I am gonna get into it. LONG POST AHEAD.

I’d start by clarifying that Kid still clearly DOES have his symmetry-related compulsions at the end of the manga; see the comedic panels with him demanding that Spirit readjust the shinigami mask over and over. He’s just learned to manage them so they don’t interfere with the most important things. Obviously, you can take that as you will, but that seems like how people in real life adjust to OCD/OCPD.

I’d also clarify the difference between OCD and OCPD, since the distinction is important. OCD is an anxiety disorder, while OCPD is a  _personality_  disorder. The symptoms of OCD are not compatible with a person’s self-image; in other words, they know their obsessions and compulsions are not “normal” or “reasonable” and it causes them anxiety. People with OCPD often do not feel upset about their obsessions and compulsions - while the personality disorder can cause distress by interfering with normal life functioning, the obsessions and compulsions  _themselves_  do not seem abnormal to the person or inherently cause distress. In other words, OCD obsessions and compulsions  **are not**  compatible with the person’s self-identity; OCPD obsessions and compulsions  **are**  compatible with the person’s self-identity.

Given the above, I’d say Kid’s issues sound more like OCPD. While his obsessions and compulsions cause him distress  _when they interfere with his life_ , most of the time, he considers them perfectly acceptable - admirable, even. Kid  _enjoys_  symmetry. He  _enjoys_  neatness. He’s trying to preserve rather than avoid.

Okay. So what we’re doing here is basically trying to figure out whether it’s possible to  _make a diagnosis_.

The thing about diagnosing psychological disorders is…a diagnosis is basically a name for a bunch of signs and symptoms that exist together, and while it may attempt to explain the root cause of those signs and symptoms, the reality is that the root causes of a lot of diagnoses aren’t fully understood.

This is where “Does Kid have OCPD?” first comes into doubt. Soul Eater is a fantasy/horror manga. We  _know_  the root cause of Kid’s OCPD: it’s the Madness of Order, some kind of…fantasy-world mumbo-jumbo that can spread like magic through the air. It’s definitely not the real-world cause of OCPD, because it doesn’t exist in the real world.

Diagnosis also serves specific purposes in the real world (giving people an understanding of what has happened to them; giving professionals an idea of how to treat the illness/disorder; giving the insurance companies a category for treatment). It would not serve the same purposes for Kid.

So with that in mind, the first question we have to answer is “Is OCPD (or any disorder) defined by its cause or its symptoms?” And I honestly don’t have a mutually agreed-upon professional response for that, but I would suggest it’s defined by  _symptoms_ , at least for now. Because the definition of a disorder is something that interferes with normal functioning or quality of life, and no matter the cause, the signs and symptoms of OCPD alone interfere with functioning and quality of life.

So that means I’m arguing you could  _technically_  diagnose a shinigami with a disorder, because it’s the ability to function (ie the symptoms), and not the root cause, that matters. Let’s look at the actual diagnostic criteria, though. I will * _italicize_ * the parts that apply to Kid and  ~~strike out~~  the ones that absolutely don’t. Parts I’m not sure about will be left in regular font.

**DSM-V DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE PERSONALITY DISORDER SPECIFICALLY:**

 

> **The essential features of a personality disorder are impairments in personality (self and interpersonal) functioning and the presence of pathological personality traits. To diagnose obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, the following criteria must be met:**
> 
> **A. Significant impairments in personality functioning manifest by:**
> 
> 1\. Impairments in self functioning (a  **or**  b):  ~~a. Identity: Sense of self derived predominantly from work or productivity; constricted experience and expression of strong emotions.~~  * _b. Self-direction: Difficulty completing tasks and realizing goals associated with rigid and unreasonably high and inflexible internal standards of behavior; overly conscientious and moralistic attitudes.*_
> 
> **AND**
> 
> 2\. Impairments in Interpersonal functioning (a  **or**  b): * _a. Empathy: Difficulty understanding and appreciating the ideas, feelings, or behaviors of others.*_  b. Intimacy:  ~~Relationships seen as secondary to work and productivity~~ ; * _rigidity and stubbornness negatively affect relationships with others.*_
> 
> **B. Pathological personality traits in the following domains:**
> 
> 1\. Compulsivity, characterized by: a. * _Rigid perfectionism: Rigid insistence on everything being flawless, perfect, without errors or faults, including one’s own and others’ performance*; *sacrificing of timeliness to ensure correctness in every detail*; *believing that there is only one right way to do things*_ ; difficulty changing ideas and/or viewpoint; * _preoccupation with details, organization, and order.*_
> 
> 2\. Negative Affectivity, characterized by: a.  _*Perseveration: Persistence at tasks long after the behavior has ceased to be functional or effective*_ ; continuance of the same behavior despite repeated failures.
> 
> **C. _*The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are relatively stable across time and consistent across situations.*_**
> 
> **D. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are ~~not better understood as normative for the individual's developmental stage or socio-cultural environment~~.**
> 
> **E. _*The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are not solely due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., severe head trauma).*_**

There’s a lot to unpack here - WAY more than I’m really capable of doing, to be honest - but I’ll summarize.

As you read, remember that I have been analyzing with the assumption that the  _cause_  of a disorder matters less than its  _symptoms_ , and therefore, the presence of consistent symptoms equals the presence of a disorder.

Also don’t forget that it is possible for mental illnesses and personality disorders to “remit.” The symptoms can be relieved until they affect life very little. That’s the whole reason for treatment in the real world, although, of course, its success varies. So the fact that Kid’s situation improved does not mean he never had a disorder. 

With that in mind, Kid meets  _every_  diagnostic criterion for OCPD  **except MAYBE for one,** repeated here for emphasis:

 

> **D. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are not better understood as normative for the individual's developmental stage or socio-cultural environment.**

IS it “normative” for an adolescent death god to have symptoms of OCPD? Their entire power is, after all, the Madness of Order. And that is not something I can answer. We don’t have enough teenage shinigami to figure out whether they all go through this! Kid isn’t human.

So with all that said, because there is that one small but very important piece of doubt (on what is the nature of a shinigami), making a decision either way by real-world criteria is impossible. I don’t think you can objectively say one way or the other, simply because of the technicalities behind what it means to diagnose with OCPD.

===

My personal opinion is that because the world of Soul Eater is so full of abstraction and magic, and because Kid is a god of death who probably has slightly different psychology from a human anyway, mental illness in this manga doesn’t necessarily take the form it does in the real world.

Kid has a constellation of signs of OCPD. They are caused by plot-relevant issues (Madness of Order, for example), but that doesn’t mean you can’t also call it a disorder, since a disorder is just a name for a series of related symptoms and issues. However, there is also no reason for Kid to be actually diagnosed IN canon, given the nature of his world, and there are reasons to think he might not be diagnosable at all.

A lot of people identify with Kid having OCD and/or OCPD because they have one of those disorders, and finding characters like themselves helps them feel more centered, gives them a hero like themselves to look up to. I strongly support people using fandom for this purpose. I think it’s part of the incredible power of fiction and art to help people in real life.

I  _also_  support the idea of looking at Kid’s symptoms as symbolic and not reflective of “real-world” psychology, because they play a role in the series both as comic relief and as representations of certain concepts that are important to the way the story’s themes play out. And here, too, is the power of fiction and art to articulate ideas about things like “order” and “balance” without being tied down by real-world constraints. Kid’s story is about learning to relinquish control sometimes, about respecting free will, and also about how excessive perfection can defeat the purpose of living. Those are things that can apply to anyone.

In other words, I believe there is no wrong answer.

One last note: it would be easy to assume that my analysis is an indictment of Kid’s character. Some of the diagnostic criteria for OCPD sound kind of disparaging, after all. I want to make really clear that’s NOT THE CASE. The only reason I can do an analysis like this is because I think Kid is actually a really great character who grows so much in complexity over the course of the series, and I also think he has a heart of gold, like the other main SE characters, which sometimes gets confused by his personal struggles. Just because someone has trouble seeing things from other people’s point of view and/or sometimes has trouble balancing the things that matter most does NOT make them sadistic, it doesn’t mean they lack compassion, and it doesn’t mean they’re not doing their best for the future of the world. So yeah, I wanted to add that, since dissecting Kid according to the DSM felt kind of cold.

So…that was maybe not as straightforward as you were hoping for, but I hope you had fun reading it, anyway! I had a lot of fun writing it. Feel free to disagree, argue, etc. I’m trying my best to understand this manga, too.


	11. It's Not 'Like What' With Maka?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tumblr user named "soma-fluff" posted a picture from the manga wondering what it meant. Because I can't mind my own business, I wrote a long post about it.

This part is really interesting and it actually gets sort of referred to way at the end of the series! Please excuse the shitty phone camera quality of my pictures, I took them right from my manga volumes.

So the panels immediately before Soul said “No…it’s not like that with Maka” were these:

“I’m nowhere near as good as Wes…and I never will be.”

“So is that why you chose her over your music?”

**_“NO!!”_ **

Basically, this vision of Wes (which is really brought on by the Book of Eibon) is saying that Soul  _settled_. That he chose his partnership over music. He’s casting aspersions on Soul’s character, calling him a coward, but is also implying that Soul’s partnership is nothing but an excuse and a distraction from his failure as a musician. Soul denies this vehemently. At this point, especially if the readers are empathizing with Maka’s anxieties, we can’t entirely tell if he’s right or if it’s just that he’s defensive - although I think you can still infer that Soul is right here, because he rarely acts this certain about anything.

So basically, when Soul says “it’s not like that with Maka,” he’s saying “No, I’m not using her as a distraction.”

But wait, there’s more!

Later, the Wes-vision appears again with the same implications (and more outright cruelty).

The Book of Eibon wants Soul to believe that he  _used_  Maka to run away from his problems. Soul, of course, continues to call bullshit and ignore it in favor of fighting Giriko.

Many chapters pass and we finally, finally get to see what their partnering was really like:

The Book of Eibon was  _wrong_.

Not only was Maka the one who did more of the “choosing,” but Soul  _involved her with his music from the very start_. He barely even knew her name, but he knew that they were going to be partners and she had to know about his music. He wasn’t using her to get away - he was trying to forge a genuine connection. Through all the ambivalence, that’s what he really wanted - not a distraction, not an escape. A connection. Someone with whom to tackle his problems.

He also says, point-blank, in the last few pages: “It’s thanks to you, Maka, that I stopped running away.”

Now, was he also partly kind of running away from his problems at home? Yeah, I’d be willing to bet it was so. People do things for multiple reasons. Probably almost none of the things you or I do every day has just one motive. But with this flashback we can tell that despite all his fear, “Maka” and “music” are not compartmentalized for Soul; they go together, part of his complete identity and part of the path he forged - not the Deathscythe Spirit’s path, not the violin genius Wes’s path, but his very own.


	12. Opinion: Ableism in Soul Eater

I don’t want to start a fight but I also really want to say this.

actually I don’t think that SE espouses the idea that friends and loved ones can “cure” your mental illness.

first of all, madness isn’t mental illness. it’s just not. the whole point of fantasy is to get out of the real world. madness is supposed to represent something that’s present in everyone and everything. most of the time it seems like better words for it might be “passion” or “chaos”, considering it does everything from making people hallucinate to causing wild piano-playing to raising the lost city of Atlantis, but we’ve got what we’ve got.

second of all, even if you assume that doesn’t matter, none of the characters who “recover”/get on with their lives do so solely because they were cared for. care was an absolutely essential ingredient, but every single one of them has an epiphany wherein they realize this is THEIR struggle, and they realize they will continue struggling for the rest of their lives*.

consider the most extreme example, Maka “healing” Crona. Maka didn’t really heal Crona. her compassion gave them another purpose to turn to when they had rejected the one Medusa tried to give them. but they made that decision and arrived at that conclusion themselves. they HAD to - when Maka tried to force it on them at the wrong time (multiple occurrences), it didn’t work at all. they also made the decision to stay on the moon, because they felt that at this point in their struggle they were not able to return to society. they didn’t WANT to because they found no sense of meaning in returning to society as a regular person (instead of a “good kishin”/guardian). and that was okay. it was a decision they were happy with, to the degree that was possible. in this way, they created their own meaning, separate from Medusa’s but also a little bit separate from Maka’s.

that’s one of the important takeaways of the series, really. the struggle NEVER actually ends. the relationships formed in life can give you the tools and framework to fight, but you are also going to have to do it for yourself. and it works for any of the scary issues people face in life, not necessarily only mental health diagnoses.

I’m not gonna tell anyone else how to feel about it, but that is incredibly inspiring and comforting to me as someone who’s been living with a Certified Actual Real Mental Illness™ and often feeling alone inside her fucked-up brain for over fifteen years now, and I do not think you can say it’s any  _less_  valid than an interpretation that the series is horrifyingly ableist. if you get ableist vibes from it, you’re also not wrong, because it is written with total disregard for real mental illness. but I sometimes see stuff scattered around the tag/search about how bad it is and I…do not find it to be that simple.

and yeah, this is based on the manga…I prefer it to the anime and I don’t think you can consider them the same canon. I haven’t thought as much about the anime.

*not that it can’t get easier - I think it is pretty clear that as the characters develop, their coping skills also improve. but my point is they realize none of their issues are just going to be magicked away and many of them are chronic.


	13. Opinion (General): Why Do People Ship So Much?!

# “Why do people care so much which fictional characters kiss each other?”

Sometimes, I will go into the generic “shipping” tag and run across a statement like the above.

I realized I’ve never seen a straightforward list of reasons for  _why_ people have favorite ships. I mean, if you really consider every fan’s personal story, there are as many  _reasons_  as there are  _shippers_. But I bet there are also some themes that appear repeatedly.

So here are ALL the reasons I can think of, or that I’ve seen other people state, for shipping.  **These are the reasons why people care.**  Originally I was gonna differentiate the ones that apply to me, but I think it would be more interesting to just leave that info out (so keep in mind that this list is supposed to be complete and varied, but it doesn’t all apply to me - or anyone else).

It’s often said that shipping is just for “horny nerds” and that it “fetishizes” fiction, but if you look over the list below, I think you’ll find out that sex is merely one category, peripheral at best for many shippers and entirely avoided by some.

Of course, many reasons tie together. I’ll try to categorize as best I can. Note that because shipping is so dominated by romantic pairings, most of these do imply romance, but I did my best to phrase most of the categories (except “sexual appeal”) so that they could apply to platonic fictional relationships, too.

**Why People Ship Fictional Characters (With Attempts at Being Value Neutral)**

**Aesthetic Reasons:**

  1. I think these characters look beautiful/cute/sexy/interesting together.
  2. These characters have designs that complement each other.
  3. These characters have designs that match.
  4. The members of this pairing have recurring motifs (for example: music motifs for a musician, themed colors, specific perfume scents, make each other certain foods, etc) that are really appealing to me.
  5. These characters sing a song together/have a theme song/feature in music together or remind me very much of music I like.



**Characterization:**

  1. These characters develop each other and/or make each other more interesting.
  2. I think my pairing is good for each other - they’ll help each other reach their full potential, and comfort and support one another.
  3. The characters are totally unique and irreplaceable to each other.
  4. I like the roles the characters play relative to each other - for example, guardians, nemeses, pursuers.
  5. If it weren’t for Character A, I would never have realized how great Character B is.



**Emotional Reasons:**

  1. I love both characters individually, so I want to see them together.
  2. One of the characters in the pairing is a favorite of mine, and I think they have feelings for the other character, so I want my favorite to get what they want and be happy.
  3. I identify strongly with one or both characters and think they would make each other happy - therefore, I want them to be together.
  4. The relationship between these characters is comforting to me.
  5. The relationship between these characters is painful, but it’s cathartic and/or I love pain.
  6. This pairing helps me experience and work through a series of strong feelings (love, sadness, anxiety, regret) in a fictional context where it’s safe and I don’t have to worry about real people or about my real life.
  7. I’m pretty much in love with one or both of the characters and putting them together is the next best thing to having them to myself!
  8. The patterns, themes, and trajectory of the relationship between these characters is incredibly compelling and inspiring.
  9. There’s another pairing that I hate for some reason, either in the fandom or in canon, so I started to ship my pairing of choice to contradict the one I don’t like.
  10. I live vicariously, or have vicarious experiences, through my favorite pairing.



**Intellectual Exploration:**

  1. My favorite pairings fascinate me intellectually because of how they parallel or contradict other pairings/phenomena in media.
  2. My pairing of choice has a complex storyline and interactions that are fun to analyze.
  3. This pairing offers unique opportunities for commentary within social/psychological science.
  4. The relationship between these characters is controversial and offers many opportunities to debate and test my opinions and reasoning skills.
  5. There are mysterious things about this pairing/these characters that canon has not clarified, and I enjoy trying to figure it out.



**Life Story Reasons:**

  1. This pairing reminds me of my own life and its events, and thinking about them helps me process and work through things that have happened in my life.
  2. Because there is something similar between my experiences and what these characters are going through/would go through, putting them together and telling stories about them helps me reconstruct and reframe the way I see my own life story.
  3. Because these characters and their stories somehow remind me of myself, putting them together and telling stories about them helps me  _rewrite_  my own life story.
  4. My engagement with this pairing helped me “find myself,” learn more about myself, organize my own thoughts, or discover something else important about my life.



**Sexual Appeal:**

  1. This pairing appeals to a kink or fantasy of mine.
  2. My favorite pairings tend to be forbidden, and forbidden things are more sexually arousing to me.
  3. I am sexually attracted to the characters myself and want to see them engage in sex as well.
  4. The pairing helps me explore sexual ideas that I’m curious about, but not sure I’m comfortable with in real life.
  5. I would never approve of my pairing if it happened between real people, but exploring something I know is “wrong” in fiction is sexually exciting.
  6. I think these characters would have exactly the kinds of sex that appeal to me most (e.g. hatesex, passionate lust, sweet lovemaking).



**Social Reasons:**

  1. My friends love this pairing, so I ship it as another way to socialize with them.
  2. Shipping my pairings of choice helps me meet new people as we all engage in creating fanworks together.



**Storytelling Reasons:**

  1. This pairing’s relationship is really important to the plot in canon. It spurs some of the most important story developments.
  2. The neatness and coherency of the canon plotline is, or would be, greatly enhanced by the romantic (or close platonic, or queerplatonic) involvement of this pairing.



**Themes, Symbolism, and Values**

  1. These characters and their relationship masterfully embody important themes and symbols throughout their canon.
  2. These characters and their relationship embody or symbolize my own favorite themes and/or values in life (harmony, the circle of life, redemption, etc).
  3. I believe the world needs more portrayals of relationships like the one I see (or imagine) in my favorite pairing, because it is a portrayal of a healthy relationship.
  4. My favorite pairing is a cautionary tale that everyone should understand.
  5. There is a spiritual dimension to my feelings about these characters. They transcend fiction because of what they represent to me.
  6. I have been told that I am not supposed to ship these characters, and I think it is wrong to tell others what to do, so now I ship them more.
  7. I believe the world needs more portrayals of relationships like the one I see in my favorite pairing, because it involves populations of race/culture/gender/sexual orientation/disability/etc that are severely underrepresented in most media.
  8. I feel represented by my favorite pairing in a way that a lot of media hasn’t satisfied.



***

Feel free to comment if I've missed a reason for shipping. There are plenty of ship dynamics I'm not comfortable with, but since I am trying to look at this from an analytical perspective that might help a relative outsider or nonshipper understand, I have included absolutely every possibility I can think of.


	14. Maka's Increasing Empathy

i think a little-appreciated thing (and it may be little-appreciated because it ain’t that important, i don’t know right now, lol) is that

over the course of the series, maka - born warrior - learns how to be softer with soul. and, honestly, pretty much everyone she once clashed with - her dad and black star come to mind.

she’s always been very compassionate by nature. (anyone who has been in the fandom for a little while is thinking ‘DUH, WE KNOW,’ but bear with me.) when she can SEE that someone even remotely “friendly” is distressed, she wants to be able to do something helpful. this is an inherent strong, admirable trait of hers. we see this with crona (whose introduction on the protagonists’ side had them appearing as a small child, pretty much the height of vulnerability), but also with less dramatic cases of people being hurt or upset - she was falling apart because she didn’t know how to help soul after the incident in italy, falling apart over the deaths of absolutely  _all_  of her friends in that horrifying vision the clown gave her because she wasn’t able to save them, choosing to let soul go because she thought he’d be better off without her (so wrong); even earlier in life in the NOT series, she was so enthusiastic to play the role of the helpful, welcoming senpai who stops to give the confused newbies motivation and a good DWMA orientation.

but. she’s not necessarily the greatest at perspective-taking. she will let her insecurities take control and assume the worst of people’s intentions when outside events threaten her ability to feel important and helpful to other people (for example, when soul gets flirted with, or she sees black star being physically stronger than her). early in the series, maka won’t stop and think “gee, maybe soul didn’t  _ask_  this stranger to flirt with him, and maybe black star  _isn’t_  trying to cramp my own contributions to the team.” because those characters don’t appear vulnerable at the time, they don’t register as “in need.”

in fact, black star and soul put on masks to make themselves look as invulnerable as possible. this is a challenge for maka to see through, and part of her character development is learning to see through those masks (like soul perception!!!).

maka’s dad is slightly different because he  _is_  a ball of emotion, but he’s also her  _dad_. we know specifically that maka doesn’t see him as vulnerable to her in the same way - because he is the adult who still emphasizes his caregiver role despite his broken promises  _and_  her rejection, while she is the adolescent whose heart he has broken multiple times. as far as maka’s concerned in the first half of the series, her father is in a position of authority and is just being a crybaby for no reason.

things change later on, though. she sees the cracks in soul’s and black star’s armor personally and discovers her power to affect them, even in their toughest moments. and spirit finally breaks down and confides something  _real_  in her (that he knows he’s made a ton of mistakes, but he still always worried about her, and now he’s in awe of the strong person she’s become), instead of just fawning over how cute she is or offering to buy something. that’s its own kind of “mask coming off.” and it’s what makes maka finally pause and show her dad some softness, too.

at the tail end of the series, we see maka’s insecurity acting up once again as she realizes soul is his own person, fully capable of using his skills without her help. she confronts that insecurity, and instead of lashing out at soul when he teases her like the prickly hedgehog he is, she holds her temper and instead asks clarifying questions to see where his mind’s really at. and it gives him a chance to flatter the heck out of her (probably an ability he gained as a result of his own growth but that’s another post).

this whole business isn’t really about  _understanding_ , per se. not in a logical, thinking way. that is repeatedly established to be unnecessary. it’s about remaining open enough to allow an emotional connection to take place (and this is where maka’s story meets many of the others characters’ trajectories).

this is a double-edged sword. on one hand, i think there are sexist undertones (the kind that are common to shonen) in the way that somehow maka is almost always learning to “understand”  _male_ characters (with the exception of crona, whose gender is undefined on purpose…but because that vagueness basically allows the reader the option to dismiss crona’s gender, it’s still not the same as establishing solidarity and empathy between characters with undeniably feminine identities).

on the other hand, i think maka’s growth in this way is subtle, deeply-woven, complex character development that reminds me of growing up in my own skin. even though it would be better done without the gender split, i love maka’s trajectory and ability to learn and change even in the face of these intense, personal fears and insecurities. that’s hard to do, and even the abstract idea of someone managing it is uplifting. also uplifting: as she becomes willing to empathize and accept others for who they are, maka defines herself better, and becomes more confident than ever in the way that she wields her own abilities.


	15. Chapter 113 Analysis

The end of chapter 113 is the culmination of Maka and Soul’s character arcs. In a series about successfully living with fear, it makes sense to watch the two main protagonists learn to manage their worst fears - in Soul’s case, that’s  _connecting_  with people; in Maka’s case, it’s  _losing_  her connections (see the Clown chapters). This is why, at the beginning of this scene, Maka is sad, but also resolute. Music is something she’s “jealous” of, as mentioned in Salvage, and while Soul used to get paralyzed trying to play without her resonance to broadcast it, he’s now independent. She knows it’s what’s best and she is proud, but she is scared that means she’s going to lose him. However, it’s what they’ve worked for - whether or not she foresaw feeling this way, any other path would have meant failing at her own goals.

Soul sees it similarly, with some important additions. He understands now that fleeing from the thing that connects him to others is never going to help him succeed, and he has to be independent and self-assured. But this new openness also means he can give Maka credit where it’s due. The vulnerability of admitting that he needed her is no longer too scary to face. What he’s saying, in very flowery words (nerdnerdNERD), is that their connection will always endure because she’s made everything possible in the first place.

This is a beautiful way to end as much of their story as we are told. It started with two partners who had equal and opposing fears, which sometimes caused them to cling too hard; Soul was afraid to be a solo act, Maka was afraid of his independence. We saw in the Salvage arc how that, paradoxically, could have torn them apart. When they overcame - or, more accurately, learned to live with - their fears, their connection actually became more gentle, harmonious, and assured, without the baggage of negative  _dependence_ (this ramble has focused on Soul’s independence, but Maka definitely has that, too - we’ve already seen her exercise it).

At the end, we see Maka realize everything, which is when she crows to the sky that they will spread courage together. (And she uses their resonance itself as an example of/synonym for courage, which is pretty cool.)


	16. Short Opinions: Dynamics and Characterization

_**Soul as a runaway** _

occasionally people seem to have this strong impression that soul like  _literally_ ran away from home and therefore  **must**  have had a very bad family life, when his family probably knew that he was going to the DWMA, and probably made plans around it, and we don’t have any evidence of them being unsupportive. his weapon blood was a surprise at first, but we do briefly see wes referring to soul’s future plans (”are you gonna quit piano”) and talking about telling their grandmother (”gran will be so surprised”) in a flashback, so clearly, at least the two brothers had time to talk about soul’s plans, and there’s no indication that they hid it from the family.

if i remember correctly, when soul or the little demon refer to “running away,” they mean something slightly less literal. more that when soul left home, he also chose to leave behind some things about himself - like his identity as a musician and the family name he was afraid to tarnish.

certainly, varied headcanon scenarios are all valid* here, since there’s so much we don’t know. you can run the whole gamut of possibilities, different reasons why things were subtle or dramatic, how different family members could be either cold or supportive. heck, maybe wes was the  _only_  supportive person. this is mostly supposed to be an observation; i guess if i’m arguing anything, it’s just that “running away from home” doesn’t  _have_  to be a central character trait for soul. “fleeing from scary existential ideas and learning how to confront them”, i’d argue that’s a little closer to the core, but that’s another essay.

*i mean,  _anything_  you want to imagine about characters in your own head is valid, but i’m talking specifically about the manga for these purposes.

* * *

 

_**Soul's changing behavior** _

Headcanon that there are a lot of reasons why Soul stopped teasing Maka about her body after the Salvage arc (more mature understanding of both Maka and himself, more mature understanding of empathy, more mature understanding of being a human in general, etc). But another major one was the fight with Giriko.

Maybe he saw that Giriko was the kind of person who made lewd comments like that about other people, women especially. After all, he was constantly saying gross stuff about Maka’s body while they fought (which in the beginning was really just an assault).

And while when he was younger Soul could easily say “oh, I’m just teasing, she’ll get over it,” after he saw the kind of person who says those things, he wanted to distance himself from it as much as fucking possible.

* * *

 

_**Maka and Soul are both good listeners** _

headcanon: maka and soul are both good listeners, but in very different ways.

maka radiates an investment in her friends’ lives. they find her easy to talk to because she obviously cares and is not judgmental ( _almost_  always). however, they do sort of learn to clarify when they’re just looking to vent, because otherwise, maka is here to  _problem-solve_  and will sometimes make suggestions when none are called for, in an effort to be helpful.

soul is a darn  _sneaky_  good listener. people who don’t know him well assume he doesn’t care. his answers are short and a little sparing. if he suspects something’s up, though, he’ll say something thought-provoking, then leave an opening to talk. before they know it, he’s stayed up listening to everything they say until 3 AM on a night before school or work.

* * *

 

_**Complementary couple** _

So in class tonight, we were talking about an interesting concept: the idea some psychologists have that subconsciously, we choose our partners based on traits that we  _have_  in ourselves but have  _rejected_.

Just to be clear, we may not have rejected them because we dislike them. We may have rejected them because we internalized the idea that they were wrong or maladaptive. For example, a creative person who chose not to pursue art because art does not seem like a stable career may end up marrying a struggling artist. (That’s what my teacher did.)

Naturally, because I am obviously pursuing a Master’s Degree in Psychoanalyzing Shonen Manga Characters, it made me think about Soul and Maka. And…I think you could apply it.

I think that in Maka, Soul sees passion. She’s very intensely into everything she does. He has a lot of passion, too (hello piano), but for most of the manga he’s afraid to express it.

As for what part of herself Maka sees in Soul, I’m having trouble putting it into words. But I think the best way to put it is that it’s his fear, especially his fear of rejection.

As the bond between the two increases, so does the positivity of each character’s self-image.

I like this way of looking at things. I’m not sure I necessarily agree with it in all scenarios, but it does frame relationships - real and fictional - in a more meaningful way. It’s not “you complete me.” It’s not “you compensate for my failings” (although there is definitely some of that, and I like that too). But this version is “by growing to accept and love you, I begin to accept and love myself.”

* * *

 

_**Mutual growth** _

I really love that SoMa is a story about mutual growth, where the characters are so good for each other…but it’s NOT about anyone being a savior. It’s not just some simple fantasy about how someone who’s fucked up can be fixed with enough love - instead, it’s about how  _mutual_  connections can give people the courage they need to become better.

Both Soul and Maka are motivated to grow, and they work hard, sometimes more for each other than themselves, but in the end, they ultimately each take responsibility for their own successes and failures. And in turn, that fuels even more growth in each other. It really is the definition of resonance.

* * *

 

_**soul and maka go from “Problem Children” to “#goals”** _

they start out with like… stein doubting whether they’re gonna be able to resonate EVER, tsubaki yelling at them to compromise like grown-ups, being unable to go into battle together because they’re too upset to even touch when soul’s in weapon form

and they end with kid and black star grinning about their special ability to balance in the book of eibon, and “we’ll show crona our souls” on the moon, and (yelling to the sky in front of a massive crowd) “i want the whole world to witness this soul resonance!”

they’re holding themselves up, and, i think, being held up by the narrative, as an  _example_

like, saying “we’ll show crona our souls” is not just them thinking “hell yeah, we’ll go in there and say hey crona, look at our souls - they sure are blobby and glowing!”

no, they’re using their entire relationship as an example of why human connections are worthwhile, and why the whole “connections only bring pain” nonsense crona learned from medusa is straight-up wrong.

yeah “#goals” was a bit of a memey wisecrack because, really, at the end of the series, of COURSE they’re not  _perfect_  people, of course they’re still insecure and temperamental or whatever. but they’ve changed in good ways. they’ve proven they’re on a trajectory of really positive growth (as individuals and as partners).

* * *

 

_**Duet** _

Maka didn’t see, first of all, that what they do is already a duet. Also, her lack of investment in musical elitism is exactly what makes her such an important audience for Soul. She represents the world’s perception of music - not what Soul thinks it should be, not some insular world of skill or talent. Just pure, raw human connection.

Of course, there are intricacies and meanings in Maka’s character development that go far beyond Soul, but these are my thoughts about the one topic.


End file.
